The owner of two pubs in Hampshire has been prosecuted and fined after pleading guilty to a total of 19 food safety and hygiene offences.

Nassir Ghesmati was prosecuted over offences at two pubs, the Coach and Horses in Cadnam and the Fox and Hounds in Lyndhurst. Southampton Magistrates Court heard how inspectors at both of these premises had encountered very poor standards of food hygiene, despite the fact that Mr Ghesmati had been issued with a number of Hygiene Improvement Notices and other formal warnings in the past.

At the Fox and Hounds, which was inspected in March, foods were stored in the refrigerator despite being past their ‘use-by’ date and the kitchen was not at all clean. There was a risk of cross-contamination from cooked chicken that was kept near raw food, and no food safety management system was in place.

The Coach and Horses kitchen was in a similar state, with foods being kept that were totally unfit for human consumption. It is not known whether any of the staff working at either of the pubs had undergone food safety training.

Mr Ghesmati was fined £9,500 for the offences, and was also ordered to pay prosecution cost of £2,162.